Vaccine: North Korean hackers tried to hack AstraZeneca

 

One year after the appearance of Covid-19 and after months of circulation of the virus all over the world, are some countries still resisting the pandemic? Officially, yes. Besides a few islands in the Pacific, Turkmenistan and North Korea say they have been spared. But the speeches seem contradicted by the actions.

On October 14, President Gourbangouly Berdymoukhamedov proudly announced that his country, Turkmenistan, had not experienced any case of coronavirus, in a speech celebrating the inauguration of a brand new hospital dedicated to infectious diseases and capable of treating a series of respiratory tract diseases and “airborne droplet diseases”.

Three days earlier, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un also congratulated himself that there had not been a single case of the coronavirus in the country, during a giant military parade organized for the 75th anniversary of the foundation. of the Workers’ Party. But according to Reuters information, relayed by CNN, shadow agents working for the country are closely interested in the coronavirus and, above all, in its future vaccine.

Several cyber attacks launched by North Korea

North Korean hackers are therefore suspected of having attempted to launch a cyberattack against the British laboratory AstraZeneca, which has developed one of the most promising vaccines against Covid-19. According to Reuters information, the hackers posed as recruiters on the LinkedIn site and the WhatsApp app to approach lab workers (some of whom are working on the future vaccine) with job offers.

The alleged recruiters concealed in the offers a virus capable of giving them access to the victims’ computers. According to Reuters, this technique did not work on any of the employees. Contacted by CNN, the North Korean mission to the United Nations denounces false information fabricated from scratch. For his part, South Korean lawyer Ha Tae-Keung says North Korea has launched several cyberattack campaigns against pharmaceutical companies working on the coronavirus vaccine, without specifying which ones.

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